1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to clamping apparatuses and clamping processes using the same and, particularly, to a clamping apparatus with a position validating function that could be used for clamping flat panel display substrates and a clamping process using the same.
2. Description of Related Art
Recently, in the flat panel display (FPD) manufacturing industry, conventional clamping apparatuses, including pneumatic actuators, have been widely used for clamping and positioning glass substrates. In a process of clamping and positioning a flat panel display substrate, e.g., a glass substrate, it would clearly be beneficial to possess an ability to detect whether the glass substrate has reached a target position or not, because that detection ability can help in effectively avoiding glass substrate breakage. If a clamping force or a pushing force continues to be applied to a glass substrate after the glass substrate has reached its target position, without the above-mentioned detection ability, the glass substrate would have increasing risks of breakage due to over-utilization of clamping force. As such, conventional clamping apparatuses, generally, have shortcomings in the area of position detection/validation function.
Therefore, what is needed is a clamping apparatus with a position detection/validation function and a clamping process using the same.